How to Make a Decision
This is not going to help you find information on specific situations or anything. It's way too short for that. Other stuff here (like the Rules of Arguing for Friends on the Internet, for example), or a simple Google search can do that. What I'm going to tell you is if you dig down deep to the heart of decision making in general, this is what you should have: =Here is how you make a decision about ANYTHING.= There are two ideas of mine that work hand in hand for this. The battery theory goes like this: The first is the battery theory. You have a battery in you. You use it for everything that you do during the day. You run out of battery at night and are replenished by morning. Thus everything you do has to be weighed against its cost to your battery. Literally ask yourself, is it worth your energy. How do you decide if it's worth the energy? The dishes analogy goes like this: That's where the dishes analogy comes in. *Complaining about the dishes does not get them clean. *Worrying about the dishes does not get them clean. *Feeling guilty about the dishes does not get them clean. *Finding out who is responsible for the dishes does not get them clean. *Blaming other people for the dishes does not get them clean. *Ignoring the dishes does not get them clean. *'WASHING the dishes, gets the dishes clean. Everything else is a waste of battery.' Between those two ideas, you have a concrete way to judge the general importance or usefulness of just about anything. When considering the limits of the battery, you can think of it as the literal energy to be awake "I don't have the energy to move any more.", you can think of it in terms of strength "I don't have enough strength to move this.", or you can even think of it in terms of time "I don't have enough time to get this done before I have to do something else.", or some combination of the three. The point is, like or not, you have limits, and you need to be aware of them. Pushing yourself a little is not a problem, and will have to happen from time to time, but ignoring those limits and pushing so far that you hurt yourself, has accomplished only that: hurting yourself. While it is important to do the best you can with what you've got, as long as you HAVE done the best you can, if it is not good enough, that HAS to be ok. And everything in life is the dishes. Life itself is the dishes. Anything you do, want to do, have to do, need to do, like to do. Not doing something that you like to do damages you just as much as not doing something that you are obligated to do. This comes back to a rule among others spoken of in these writings: If you do not take care of yourself, you will not be around to be able to take care of anyone else. For more help, check out our Philosophy Hub.